10 Tips for a Terrific TwitchCon
Have you been to TwitchCon yet? If you have, you know how crazy it can get and planning ahead is important. And if you have never been before but are planning to this year, read on!
1. BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW. Tickets are on sale now. Buy them here. Don’t miss out because TwitchCon sold out. The sooner you can get these the better.
2. KNOW HOW MANY DAYS YOU CAN ATTEND AND BUY THAT MANY NOW. My first TwitchCon was in San Diego, 2016. I thought I could only attend one day, so I bought a one day pass. Once I was at TwitchCon, I was so hyped about what I wanted to get out of it that I bought another pass for the following day. I was lucky that I could actually get a ticket that last minute. Don’t expect to have this luck as TwitchCon is way more popular now. Tickets sold out last year and people who didn’t get tickets early were SOL. I want you there so hop on it!
3. PICK UP YOUR BADGE ON THURSDAY, September 26th! Last year’s TwitchCon (in San Jose) I spent the entire day (Friday) in the sweltering sun with other tilted attendees who did not get their badge the day before. It was the worst experience ever. If at all possible, get it on Thursday. See below Event-At-A-Glance. Even if you are going Saturday or Sunday, plan to pick up your badge early the day before. Seriously. Do it.
4. BEWARE THE CHEAP AIRBNB ROOM. OMFG. TwitchCon 2016, I booked a room in a house that was super cheap for the San Diego Area. Bad news was, the roommate wasn’t mindful of the Airbnb rules and decided to have a party that night in the rest of the house. I barely slept and was severely lagging the next day when I wanted to be on top of my game. I dreaded that next night and couldn’t wait to check-out. Just be careful and if you can Airbnb a whole house, do it. You’ll sleep better knowing that no random people are entering the place, unannounced. And if you can afford it, get one of the Twitch listed hotel rooms here!
5. DOWNLOAD THE TWITCHCON APP. Here are links for the 2018 TwitchCon app Google Play and iOS App Store. Twitch has been evolving their app for the last couple years. They may reuse the 2018 app and list 2019 on there as an event but it hasn’t happened yet. Not 100% sure. Just keep a lookout for when the 2019 goes live and get it. You can plan what panels to attend and set a reminder within the app. Different meetups are listed there. There was even a game called “The Hunt” in 2018 with achievements that you could unlock by going to certain booths, finding hidden QR codes to scan. The points earned all posted to the TwitchCon Leaderboards. I hope Twitch evolves this game this year.
6. KNOW WHERE TO PARK. I rode my motorcycle to TwitchCon for a couple years now and it has its advantages when it comes to parking (like parking on the sidewalk out of the way of pedestrians). If you are driving or riding with someone in a car, know where to park. There is on-site private vehicle parking available at the San Diego Convention Center. Here’s a link for more info.
7. MEET UP WITH YOUR COMMUNITY! This is probably one of the biggest reasons to go to TwitchCon. Building and being a part of a community requires making connections. Meet the faces behind chat. Share the love. Grab a bite to eat in the Gaslamp Quarter. Go to the annual roast of a big name streamer (it’s a comedy show that is raw and hilarious). Go to the TwitchCon Party (make sure you get the ticket for it). TwitchCon is the place for memorable reunions with your friends and/or fans!
8. JOIN THE COSPLAY CONTEST OR JUST COSPLAY. Do you love to cosplay? Do you stream cosplay? Well turn those dreams into streams of your maker prowess and submit your entry! I’m not a cosplayer, but some of my friends are like Tiffany of twitch.tv/UpDownLeftDie. I’d love to see what you are creating. Read the rules for submission if you want to participate in the contest.
9. PLAY GAMES AND ASK ABOUT BETA/EARLY ACCESS KEYS. Developers of all kinds are at TwitchCon. I’ll focus on game devs. The devs want you to play their games. If you stream and have a decent number of concurrent viewers, this will give them more of a reason to give you early access to their game. In 2016, I received beta keys and skin codes for Heavy Metal Machines. In 2017, I got an early access game key for Dead Cells. I streamed these titles and ran giveaways on my channel. It promotes the game and also gives you more opportunities to grow your channel.
10. CHECK THE FAQ. More good tips straight from the horse’s mouth! I can’t cover everything 😉
